Podilymbus Podiceps (Linnaeus, 1758) (Podicipediformes, Podicipedidae) in the Patagonian Region of Southern Chile

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NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Check List 14 (2): 309–312 https://doi.org/10.15560/14.2.309

New record of Podilymbus podiceps (Linnaeus, 1758) (Podicipediformes, Podicipedidae) in the Patagonian region of southern Chile

Javier Godoy-Güinao,1, 2 Juan Carlos Llancabure,1 Iván A. Díaz1, 2

1 Laboratorio de Biodiversidad y Ecología del Dosel, Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio de la Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile. 2 Fundación Mar Adentro, Av. El Golf 99 of. 901, Santiago Chile. Corresponding author: Javier Godoy-Güinao, [email protected]

Abstract We report a new record of Podilymbus podiceps (Linnaeus, 1758) in the southern Chilean Patagonia, 120 km south of previous records on the western side of the Andes, and more than 400 km south of their known distribution area on the eastern side of the Andes. This is the southernmost record of this species in Chile and one of the southernmost records worldwide, highlighting the vagrancy of this species in southern Patagonia.

Key words Vagrancy; Chilean Patagonia; Grebes; General Carrera Lake; Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez.

Academic editor: Caio J. Carlos | Received 13 May 2017 | Accepted 21 February 2018 | Published 9 March 2018

Citation: Godoy-Güinao J, Llancabure JC, Díaz IA (2018) New record of Podilymbus podiceps (Linnaeus, 1758) (Podicipediformes, Podicipedidae) in the Patagonian region of southern Chile. Check List 14 (2): 309–312. https://doi.org/10.15560/14.2.309

Introduction Throughout the southern part of its distribution range, P. podiceps is distributed differently on either side of the Podilymbus podiceps (Linnaeus, 1758) is an aquatic bird Patagonian Andes (Birdlife International 2016). In Chile, species that is widely distributed across North and South it is known from the Coquimbo Region (30° S) south to America (Llimona et al. 1992). The southern cone of Pumalin Park (42° S) in continental Chile, and to Chonchi South America is inhabited by the subspecies P. podiceps (43° S) on the Chiloé Archipelago (Goodall et al. 1951, antarcticus (Lesson, 1842) (Llimona et al. 1992, Cle- Jaramillo et al. 2005). On the eastern side of the Andes, P. ments et al. 2015), which is distributed from Venezuela podiceps inhabits much of South America, south to 42° S, to southern Argentina and Chile, where it inhabits lakes, where the extensive steppes of the Chilean and Argentine lagoons, and rivers (Jaramillo et al. 2005). P. podiceps is Patagonia begin (Goodall et al. 1951, Birdlife Interna- commonly observed alone or in pairs, but never in flocks tional 2016). This species may be a vagrant throughout (Goodall et al. 1951). Patagonia, as indicated by sporadic sightings from south P. podiceps is considered the rarest species of grebe of 42° S. For instance, 1 individual was observed 300 km in the Chile (Goodall et al. 1951), it has no declared con- south of the Chiloé Archipelago, near Quitralco stream servation status in this country (Chilean Environmental (45°36′ S, 073°15′W), between fjords and channels on the Ministry 2017), and globally has been classified as Least western side of the Andes (Birdlife International 2016). Concern by Birdlife International (2016). In the Argentine Patagonia, occasional records between

Copyright Godoy-Güinao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 310 Check List 14 (2)

Figure 1. Distribution of Podilymbus podiceps (dark gray) in southern Chile and Argentina according to Birdlife International (2016). Location of vagrant P. podiceps recorded in Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez, southern Chile (star) and southern Argentina (points). In Chile: Pto. Ing. Ibáñez (2015). In Argentina: El Chaltén, Pto. Bandera and Estancia (Ea) Anita (2005), Cmdte. Luis Piedra Buena (2004 and 2008), Estancia (Ea) La Julia (2017).

49° and 50° S (Darrieu et al. 2008, checklists S34463672 program in Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez, conducted from and S35345575 on eBird, Imberti pers. comm.) have also 2013 to the present (Godoy-Güinao et al. unpublished been reported (Fig. 1). Here, we report the southernmost data). The datum used to record the geographic coordi- vagrant record of this species in Chile. nates of our new record is WGS84.

Methods Results Our new sighting of P. podiceps took place on the east- New record. On July 23, 2015, JG and JL observed and ern side of the Andes mountain range in southern Chile, photographed 1 individual of P. podiceps on the north within the framework of a permanent bird monitoring shore of General Carrera Lake, Puerto Ibáñez, Aysén Godoy-Güinao et al. | New record of Podilymbus podiceps in the Chilean Patagonia 311

podiceps presents a stable trend, without extreme fluc- tuations and not increasing (Birdlife International 2016). Therefore, our finding may not be related to demographic expansion and dispersion of P. podiceps population; if it were, we should have recorded a permanent establish- ment and an increasing population in General Carrera Lake. On the other hand, a search for resources could explain the presence of this species in General Carrera Lake. However, without population monitoring it is dif- ficult to identify their foraging behavior and know the details of their search for resources. Finally, the year of our record coincides with the very strong ENSO (El Niño–Southern Oscilation) during 2015–2016, with several frontal systems that caused abundant precipitation in Figure 2. Podilymbus podiceps individual recorded at the General Carrera Lake in Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez, southern Chile on 23 July southern Chile (Dirección Meteorológica de Chile 2016). 2015. Photograph by JL. ENSO could influence vagrant behavior (Veit 2000) and explain the presence of P. podiceps at General Carrera region, southern Chile (46°17′S, 071°56′W, 212 m elev., Lake in the year 2015. However, in southern Argentina, Fig. 2). this species was recorded outside its normal distribution range several times before and after our record (Fig. 1). Identification. The photographed individual had light Long-term and large-scale monitoring is necessary gray plumage on its body, with dark gray marks on its to determine the presence of this species in other Pata- back. Its beak was short, broad, and whitish, crossed gonian lakes and the possibility of an expansion of its by a thick, vertical black line. Its brown eyes had white southern distribution. Moreover, permanent monitoring, periophthalmic rings, and its chin was black (Fig. 2). population studies (Veit 2000), and permanent weather There was no tuft on its head (Fig. 2). These features are monitoring (Montalti et al. 1999) could provide explana- characteristic of P. podiceps and distinguish it from other tions as to how individuals can end up 1000 km away grebe species in Chile, which have characteristics such from their normal distribution. as white cheeks, crests, and colorful eyes (Goodall et al. 1951, Jaramillo et al. 2005). Acknowledgements Discussion We are grateful to Armando Godoy and Olga Güinao for providing logistical facilities in Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez This new record is 120 km southeast of the nearest and Fernando Godoy for his field support. We also thank vagrant records in the Aysén region and more than 400 Santiago Imberti for providing us with relevant infor- km south of the known distribution areas of P. podiceps mation. We thank Christine Harrower for her valuable on the eastern side of the Andes (Fig. 1). We believe that comments on the manuscript. this record is the southernmost in Chile (Fig. 1). Podilymbus podiceps is a widely distributed bird Author contributions species across North and South America (Llimona et al. 1992, Clements et al. 2005), and it has been recorded JG conducted the bird censuses and drafted the manu- outside of its normal distribution, such as in France, script; JL participated in the field surveys, photographed Grenada, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, the species, and collaborated in the writing of the manu- Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain (Canary Islands), and script; ID provided valuable comments to improve the the United Kingdom (Birdlife International 2016). The manuscript, and collaborated in writing and editing the records from southern Argentina (Darrieu et al. 2008, final text. checklists S34463672 and S35345575 on eBird, Imberti pers. comm.) also represent vagrant observations of this References species (Fig. 1). The lack of previous records of this species from other Chilean Patagonian lakes (Goodall et BirdLife International (2016) Podilymbus podiceps. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22696574A93571798. https://doi. al. 1951, Jaramillo et al. 2005, Couve et al. 2016) and org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2016-3.rlts.t22696574a93571798. Accessed during the previous 2 years (summer and winter) of bird on: 2017-8-24. monitoring on this lake suggests that our sighting is most Chilean Environmental Ministry (2017) Clasificación de especies likely related to vagrancy rather than pseudo-vagrancy del 13° proceso. http://www.mma.gob.cl/clasificacionespecies/ (Dias et al. 2010, 2014). decimo-tercer-proceso.htm. Accessed on: 2017-9-5. Clements JF, Schulenberg TS, Iliff MJ, Roberson D, Fredericks TA, According to Dias et al. (2010), vagrancy can be Sullivan BL, Wood CL (2015) The eBird/Clements checklist of explained by demographic dispersion, a search for birds of the world: v2015. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clements- resources, or disorientation. The global population of P. checklist/download/. Accessed on: 2016-5-19. 312 Check List 14 (2)

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